Responses to the Coup d'etat in Honduras on Sunday June 28, with special emphasis on producing English-language versions of commentaries by Honduran scholars and editorial writers and addressing the confusion encouraged by lack of basic knowledge about Honduras.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

US Military cooperating with FFAA of Honduras

Despite what the State Department says about having "suspended" military cooperation with the Armed Forces of Honduras, the US Southern Command says that the FF.AA. of Honduras will participate in the Allied Forces Panamax 2009 maneuvers September 11-22. Honduras appears in the list of 21 countries that will participate in the naval exercises, TeleSUR, and many other sources are reporting.

Is this what the Pentagon calls "suspending" military cooperation with them?

Update 10 Sept. 4:00 PM PDT: Notimex, via a San Francisco area hispanic news source, reports that the Honduran Armed Forces withdrew themselves from the Panamax maneuvers today. A spokesperson for the Panamanian Naval Airforce indicated to the Panamanian press that the delegation from Honduras communicated their non-participation in the event because the nations of the region don't recognize the de facto government, and that some say it came out of a coup last june. The Panamanian source indicated that some of the events are scheduled to take place off the Honduran coast, and that the exercise simulates a planned terrorist attack on the Panama Canal.

The problem is not that they were invited to participate, if its true that the invitations were sent over a year ago; the problem is that they weren't disinvited after the US supposedly cut off military cooperation with them.

EFE reportsthat the Honduran ambassador to Panama says there is a delegation from Honduras in Panama, and that they have no business being there since they aren't the legal representatives of Honduras.

The statement from the US Southern Command only says they won't "participate" in the maneuvers. It doesn't indicate they would not have been allowed to if they had wanted to.